Burke’s Wood. Prague’s last wooden monument will be renovated!

The Burke Wood is the oldest wooden monument in Prague. The building, which was built in 1890, was continuously inhabited for over 126 years. The wooden building at 26 Kawęczyńska Street was an annex of a brick building. A contract has just been signed for the renovation of the former ‘Burke’s outhouse’, which will save this unique monument.

Burke’s outhouse – history

The single-storey rental house was built around 1890 by Edmund Burke. It formed part of a residential complex, of which only one building remains today. The building has a pitched roof and wooden decoration in the attic belt and under the parapet cornices. The wall on the street side is blind. After the Second World War, the outbuilding became a municipal house. In 2015, the building was entered in the register of historical monuments as a relic of residential wooden architecture and one of the few material testimonies of the former building form of Prague. It is one of two wooden residential buildings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries preserved in Praga-Północ (the other is located at 9 Środkowa Street). The last tenant moved out of it in 2016.

This building is very important because it is one of the last wooden monuments of Praga. I am glad that we are in this place, that we have government and city funds, we have a contractor – so all the initial problems have been overcome,” said Aldona Machnowska-Góra, Deputy Mayor of the City of Warsaw, during the signing. – ‘As far as the Praga revitalisation programme is concerned, we are trying to implement it step by step and we have a great determination to change the area around such a place as Burke’s Wood,’ she added.

Burke’s Wood with a grant

The building was awarded a grant from the Government’s Programme for the Reconstruction of Monuments at the request of the City of Warsaw. Burke’s outbuilding at 26 Kawęczyńska Street is unique in the contemporary cultural landscape of the Praga district, being a relic of the district’s wooden buildings. It has survived in an unchanged form for almost 130 years, preserving much of its historic substance.

The results of the second edition of the programme were announced in September 2023. Three Warsaw monuments received the following funding:

Burke’s Oficyna – PLN 3.5 million;
Elizeum – PLN 3.5 million (phase 1);
Bema Fort – almost PLN 1.5 million.

Oficyna Burkego
Photo by Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons

Burke’s clog renovation – a contract has been signed!

In January 2021, due to the deteriorating condition of the building, a protective renovation of the clog was carried out, but this was only emergency work. Vertical insulation of the foundations was then installed. The foundations and rotten parts of the wooden structure were replaced. Threatened ceilings were propped. Internal tie-beams were made to tie the façade and gable walls together. The two outermost chimneys that were in danger of collapsing were also demolished and the two central chimneys were reinforced with steel clamps. The Office of the Capital Conservator of Monuments supervised the preservation work. The work was carried out by Zakład Gospodarowania Nieruchomościami Praga-Północ.

ZGN Praga-Północ announced a tender for the renovation of the wooden outbuilding. Tomasz Wójcik’s Max-Bud company was selected from the submitted bids and a contract was signed with it.

Warsaw applied for money for the conservation renovation at the beginning of 2023. It concerned a grant from the Government Programme for the Reconstruction of Monuments. In the second stage of the programme, the city received PLN 3.5 million for the renovation of this unique Prague monument. At the end of August 2024, the City Council increased the amount for the renovation and a contractor could be selected in a subsequent tender procedure.

The renovation, which will start soon, is intended not only to restore the monument’s good condition, but also to save and use, as much as possible, the original, historical substance of the building. The square in front of the building will also be renovated. All work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.

Source: Warsaw City Hall

Also read: tenement | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland | Metamorphosis | whiteMAD on Instagram

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